"Zelgadis-san, this ball is going to be so much fun! Wait until you see your costume!"
Amelia was supposedly taking notes on all the magical springs in her sister's hot spring book, but in fact was fidgeting with excitement. The ball was less than a day away.
"I may not go. If I don't stop for distractions like that I may be able to finish my research tomorrow."
Amelia looked utterly stricken. "But...you have to go. I planned it all for you."
"For the princes of Wileyah, you mean."
"Zelgadis-san, you must go to the ball! Promise me that you will!"
"Give me one good reason why I should go to this ball. I hate parties."
Amelia thought hard. It had to be a rational reason. Emotional pleas like, "I'll be heart-broken if you don't go," would not impress him.
"You still can't think of any?" Zelgadis asked rather sarcastically after a minute.
"I've thought of lots," Amelia retorted. "Prince Seras wants to meet you. You could promote good relations between kingdoms by coming."
"Not good enough."
"The royal tailors went to a lot of effort to make your costume. You don't want their hard work to go to waste, do you?"
"Not good enough."
Amelia sighed. She had hoped to appeal to his sense of justice, but she would use whatever means necessary. "There will be a fantastic buffet."
"I'm not Lina. You can't bribe me with food."
Amelia pulled out a list. "We're having: goose liver pate, layered fish terrine, caviar, smoked salmon..."
Zelgadis' mouth began to water.
"...assorted meat rolls, prosciutto-stuffed mushrooms, crab-stuffed snow pea pods, marinated shrimp, dill and garlic olives, quiche lorraine, tarts, cheese (provolone, cheddar, limburger, edam, muenster, and some other kinds), crackers, spiced meat balls, tapenade, assorted vegetables and vegetable dips, fruit cocktails..."
"Alright, I'll go! But only long enough to eat."
Amelia smiled smugly. She knew him alright. "Good. I'll see you there then."
"Zelgadis-san, it's almost time for the party! You have to get dressed!"
Zelgadis reluctantly looked up from his notes to the princess. She was already dressed in what he assumed was her costume. It was a light blue dress with shapeless pieces of fluffy white material pinned on to it in random places. She was nearly dancing with excitement.
"Can I just finish this first?" he asked.
"No. You have to get ready now. Come on!"
She practically dragged him to her room and shoved him in the door. "Your costume is laid out on the bed."
Zelgadis saw that she was correct. The bed, he couldn't help noticing, was covered with pink and white ruffles. In fact, the whole room was covered with pink and white ruffles. The pictures on the walls showed knights slaying monsters, ruffians or each other. There were battered stuffed animals watching him from the shelves. Zelgadis tried not to look at anything too closely. It was embarrassing enough being alone in Amelia's room without being nosy.
The costume was one of the puffy outfits the Seyrunnese nobility favored, complete with cummerbund, cape and ankle boots. Unlike any other such outfit he had seen, this one was all black. The only things that relieved the darkness were the little silver stars stitched all over it. Each star was held on by one or two loops of thread. It would take someone with a pair of scissors only a few minutes to convert the costume into an outfit suitable for everyday use.
Zelgadis fingered the sleeve of the costume unhappily. He had no desire at all to attend this ball. Maybe he could go back and finish the rough draft of that transformation-based chimera unmaking spell he had been working on. No one would notice if he was a little late to the ball, right? He would definitely go eventually. He had to keep his promise to Amelia.
"How is your research going?" Amelia asked conversationally from the far side of the door. Zelgadis froze with his hand on the doorknob.
"It's going well," he replied. Realizing that he was not going to escape, he began peeling off his dust-colored clothing. "I'm currently writing a series of chimera unmaking spells based on the information I've gathered. I doubt any of them are strong enough to alter my transformation, but perhaps they will eventually be useful in some way."
"Then you're almost finished?" Amelia asked neutrally.
He had tried to finish his research quickly so that he could leave before the ball, but he had found some very promising material in the last week. He did not regret taking the time to read through it, but it did mean that he had to go to this ball. "Yes, I should only need two or three more days."
"And then you'll leave again." There was no doubt about it this time; Amelia sounded sad.
"Of course."
Zelgadis found a pair of black silk gloves under the cape and put them on. There was also an oddly-shaped piece of black fabric, but he couldn't figure out what it was.
"Amelia, what am I supposed to do with this thing?"
"May I come in?"
Zel opened the door. "Zelgadis-san, you look so handsome!" Amelia exclaimed as soon as she saw him. She darted into the room and immediately began straightening his costume. She yanked on the shoulders, retied the sash, and adjusted the hang of the cape, all within a minute of stepping in the door.
"This thing?" he reminded her, holding up the unidentified garment.
"That's your hood. Sit down." She shoved him into a chair so that she could reach the top of his head. Then she yanked the hood out of his hand and skillfully fastened it over his hair. "Stay there. I'll get your mask."
She darted out of the room again.
Zelgadis was left alone. It was too late to run back to his notes so instead he wandered curiously over to the mirror. He winced as always at the sight of his hideous face, but the rest of him looked surprisingly good. He looked like a nobleman.
Zel's parents owned millions of gold in the form of magical supplies and ancient relics, but they insisted on living like ordinary townsfolk. Zelgadis had bought all his equipment with money earned by his own labor. It had taken him three years as a woodcutter's apprentice to save up enough money to buy his sword. No one looking at him now would guess his common origins.
Amelia skipped back into the room with two masks clutched in one hand and a small ceramic pot in the other. "Sit down," she ordered imperiously.
Zelgadis sat down in his chair again. Amelia set the masks and pot on the dressing table and pulled up another chair so that she could sit opposite him.
"Now hold still." She pulled a brush out of the pot and began painting his forehead with it.
Zelgadis jerked away. "What are you doing?"
"I'm putting glue on your face so the mask will stay on."
"Is that necessary? I thought people usually just tie masks on with strings.
"These are special masks that need to be glued on. You don't want it to fall off do you?"
"No."
"Then hold still. Don't worry, the glue comes off easily," she added as she began dabbing his face again.
Zelgadis sighed and submitted. He couldn't feel the brush but he could feel the wet trails it left as cool patches on his skin. Passive and strangely mesmerized, he watched Amelia's frown of concentration. He felt relieved but at the same time almost sorry when she put down the brush and picked up the mask. She pressed the mask into place and smoothed it down with gentle fingers. She took an especially long time adjusting the complicated folds around the mouth.
Finally she stood back. "Take a look."
Zelgadis stepped over to the mirror again. His face had become the face of the full moon. It was an amazingly well-crafted mask. It also hid his stone skin completely, except for his lips and eyelids.
"My mouth and eyes still show," he complained, noting as he did so that the mask moved with his jaw.
"That's what this is for." Amelia held up a small jar of silver paint. Almost before he realized what she was doing, she was running a paint-coated thumb over his eyelids and lips. Zelgadis blushed under his mask. Amelia turned away to wash her hands.
"Now you have to do the same thing for me," she said.
Zelgadis pulled off his gloves and imitated what she'd done to him as best he could. Soon her face was covered by the golden disk of the sun.
Amelia quickly inspected his handiwork in the mirror. Zelgadis walked up behind her and looked at their reflections side-by-side. She had chosen their costumes well. He really was as different from her as night from day.
"I love these costumes!" Amelia exclaimed. "Isn't this exciting?" She smiled up at him. "I still have to decorate my hair but you can go ahead to the party. The buffet table should be up by now."
After a few more backward glances at his unfamiliar reflection, Zelgadis followed her advice.
When Zel arrived at the party there were already plenty of people dancing or standing around chatting, but it was obvious that most of the guests had not arrived yet. Zelgadis walked straight to the buffet table. As he picked through the delicacies there, he surveyed the guests more carefully. Some of the costumes were lovely. He was most impressed by a peacock and a fire spirit. Other costumes looked like they had been carelessly thrown together at the last minute. Many were just ordinary ball gowns and suits with the addition of a half-mask. Zelgadis had never before attended a party nearly as fancy as this one but he refused to let it overawe him. He had attended parties before, on rare occasions. The people there might not have worn silk and jewels but the principle was the same.
"Cedric!" An oversized man in a brown suit and bear mask descended on Zelgadis.
Zelgadis stared at him in surprise. "You must have mistaken me for someone else," he said coldly.
"Nonsense! Did you think I wouldn't recognize my own nephew? I see you're hanging around the buffet table as usual. Look at all the pretty girls here. You should be dancing, my boy."
"I am not your nephew."
"Don't play silly games with me, Cedric."
A fanfare saved Zelgadis from having to answer such stupidity. Like everyone else in the room, he turned to look at the grand staircase. Two figures stood there. One was a massive man wearing a dark blue body suit with an X on the chest, a long cape and a bandit-style mask. The smaller figure with her hand resting on his arm was a girl dressed in the summer sky. She had tied gold ribbons in her hair and put on jewelry since the last time Zel had seen her.
"Good evening, everyone," Prince Phil boomed amiably. "I hope you're enjoying the party."
"Welcome, everyone!" Amelia added.
They walked down the staircase together to the accompaniment of applause.
"As I was saying, Cedric," the old bear began.
"Excuse me," Zelgadis broke away. He wove his way through the crowd.
"Zelgadis-san!" Amelia called, spotting him.
Zelgadis walked over to her and bowed slightly. Somewhat startled, Amelia curtseyed.
"Are you enjoying the party, Zelgadis-san?"
He thought about that. "Yes," he decided.
"Would you like to dance?" she asked hopefully.
"I don't dance."
"Zelgadis-san, the purpose of a ball is dancing. You can't come to a ball and not dance!" Amelia proclaimed, striking poses.
Zelgadis hid a smile behind his mask. Even though her face was completely hidden, there was no doubt that this was Amelia.
"I just came for the food. You know that."
Amelia sighed. "Yes, I know. I hoped you'd changed your mind."
Zelgadis was enjoying the party more than he'd expected. The dancing and costumes were beautiful to watch and it was wonderful to be surrounded by people without worrying about his freakish appearance frightening them. However, he didn't say so. Amelia sighed again and went to dance with someone else.
A crowd of curious people drifted over to investigate the mysterious stranger whose costume matched the princess'. Zelgadis watched Amelia dance as he idly chatted with them. He was not surprised that she knew all the steps but he was surprised by how gracefully she moved. She was usually so awkward. At first he was delighted to be able to talk to people who had no idea that he was a chimera but soon their questions became annoying. With some effort, he escaped them and returned to the buffet table.
As Zelgadis was gathering up a plateful of appetizers to take with him when he left, one more richly dressed pest caught him, a young man in a small gold mask.
"You're a friend of the princess?" the young man said as a conversation opener.
Zelgadis nodded briefly.
"She's a sweet girl," the young man continued idly, "I hope she survives."
Zelgadis stared at him suspiciously. "What do you mean?"
"Oh, nothing much, just that Seyruun has such cutthroat politics. They lose several members of every generation to assassination, you know. Don't glare at me like that. I said I hope she survives and I meant it. I have no interest in the throne of Seyruun since I'm only two warm bodies away from the throne of Wileyah."
"You are Crown Prince Seras," Zel recognized.
"Quite, and you are?"
"Zelgadis."
"What an interesting name."
"Quite."
"So, Zelgadis, do you think that little Amelia will ever be queen?"
Zelgadis stared at him for a long moment before answering, "Who would want to kill her? Her father and her uncle Christopher wouldn't, and all the other members of the Seyruun royal family are dead."
"Not all. For instance, I'm quite alive."
"You are a member of the Seyruun royal family?"
"My mother is Philionel and Christopher's sister. As I said, I have no interest in Seyruun, but I have two younger brothers who might. They're over there." He pointed out two foppish young men chatting with a group of ladies in another part of the room. "I might even encourage them to look to Seyruun. It would keep them from trying to assassinate me." He laughed as if he had just made a joke.
Zelgadis glared at the prince with dislike. "It would be a good way to get rid of them if that's your goal. The last few people who tried to assassinate Prince Philionel died."
"But Amelia is an easier target, no?"
"Don't count on it."
"She's just a girl."
"She's a powerful sorceress."
Seras dismissed that argument with a wave of his hand. "She's completely naive. She thinks purity of heart will make her invulnerable." He laughed at the very idea.
"Her father has the same delusion and he's managed to survive so far."
"Uncle Phil survives despite his foolish ideas about justice because he is powerful enough to crush anything that gets in his way. I've even heard rumors that he can kill Mazoku with his bare hands! False, of course, but they show how much people respect his strength." Seras sounded amused. "That is also why he is such a successful ruler. People respect power."
Zelgadis considered that. It sounded like something he would have said before he became a chimera. It still made a lot of sense to him but, "You don't think his popularity is a result of his personality? I would have said that the people of Seyruun love him because he is benevolent, loud and overly dramatic."
"What makes you think that?" the prince asked patronizingly.
Zelgadis bristled, "I can tell the difference between people cheering out of fear and people cheering out of love. When Prince Philionel rides through the city the people of Seyruun cheer out of love."
Prince Seras shrugged in a way that said, 'Think whatever you want; it's not worth my time to argue about it.'
"If Uncle Phil ever died, do you think the people would support Amelia for his sake?"
Zelgadis gave him a measuring look. "Yes."
"That wouldn't last very long. People only love someone for someone else's sake as long as they don't know her. If she ever became the ruler she would have to win their respect for herself."
"This may surprise you, but they already love her for her own sake."
"Really?"
"She is just as loud, justice obsessed and overly dramatic as her father, and she loves them."
"Do you think..."
"Excuse me, my lord," Zelgadis interrupted, walking away.
He was going to keep a closer watch on Amelia for the rest of the ball. He didn't really think that anyone would try to assassinate her tonight, but that Wileyan prince made his flesh creep, and he didn't even have any flesh.
Amelia was on her way to join Zelgadis in the library when she saw him walking down a hall that intersected hers. She could tell by his stride that he had finished his research and was on his way out of Seyruun. She turned and ran back to her room.
As soon as she got there, she started pawing through her wardrobe and throwing garments at the bed. First, a white tunic with pink trim; then white pants, a white cloak with purple lining, a bracelet attached to a magic amplifying gemstone, a matching collar, a thick belt; and finally a pair of battered, light green boots. She spent a minute searching for the second bracelet among the assorted junk on the top shelf of her wardrobe but she couldn't find it and she couldn't waste any more time looking for it. She did find her pink, fuzzy purse, however, and it even still had some money in it.
Quickly, she stripped off her dress and pulled on the sorceress costume. The tunic was significantly tighter than she remembered, but fortunately it had been very loose to start with. The pants ended above her ankles, but the boots covered that. The boots were a bit tight, but the well-worn leather would stretch. The cape, bracelet and belt still fit. She looked herself over quickly in the mirror. Overall, the outfit was tighter and more ragged than she would like it to be, but it would do. She shoved her family crest, another handful of money, a toothbrush and a few other useful little things into her purse and dashed out the door.
She almost tripped over a scrap of paper on the way out. It was a note from Zelgadis. "I've finished my research. Thank you for your help. Goodbye. Zelgadis," Amelia read. She scowled.
Then she dashed back into her room and grabbed a pen. She crossed out Zelgadis' message and wrote on the other side, "Daddy, I'm going to help Zelgadis-san find his cure. I love you." She quickly signed her name and dashed out of the room again.
Fortunately, there was a servant carrying linens just one hallway over. Amelia handed her the note. "Give this to my Daddy," she said.
Then she ran for the palace doors, taking every shortcut she knew. She caught up with Zelgadis just before he reached the front doors.
"Wait, Zelgadis-san, I'm coming with you!" she cried.
He stiffened. He reluctantly turned around. He tried to be reasonable.
"Doesn't you father need you here at the palace? Doesn't Seyruun need you?"
"No, all I do is ride in parades and host parties. Someone else can do that. They haven't trusted me on my own with important duties, like diplomatic missions, since that incident in Xoana. I've barely been out of Seyruun since we returned from the New World. It's so unfair! It isn't my fault that the fleet was destroyed."
Zelgadis winced at the memories of massive, senseless destruction her words called up. He had almost forgotten Lina's habit of accidentally destroying cities while trying to save them from monsters.
"Helping you find your cure is the most valuable thing I could be doing right now," Amelia concluded.
Zelgadis looked into her huge, pleading eyes. Amelia was the most stubborn person he knew. He foresaw three ways this could turn out. One, he could give in. Then he would be stuck with her until she finally decided to go home again. Two, he could refuse. Then she would probably follow him. He would be stuck with her anyway and, to make matters worse, she would be mad at him. Three, by some miracle he might be able to convince her to stay here. Then he would be haunted by the memory of her disappointment for weeks, and if one of her slimy Wileyan cousins hurt her after he left he would never forgive himself.
Zelgadis gave in. "Alright, you can come with me."
"Yay!" Amelia struck a triumphant, heroic pose. "I will not fail you, Zelgadis-san!"
They walked out into the city.
"If you're going to be travelling with me, you'll need this, won't you?" Zelgadis pulled a pink bracelet set with a blue gemstone out of a concealed pocket in his cloak and thrust it at her.
"So that's where that went!" Amelia exclaimed happily, fastening it around her bare wrist.
"You forgot you gave it to me?"
"Um, sorry. Thank you for taking such good care of it."
"Never mind. Let's go."
Author's Note: ...And they're off!
When the idea for Zelgadis and Amelia's costumes came to me, I had to fit a masquerade ball into the story somehow. It was pure self-indulgence, but I tried to make up for it by not making the ball the catalyst for shameless romance that most masquerade balls are. Instead, you get Prince Seras. I find I rather like him, despicable though he may be. Perhaps I will find some way to use him again someday. Hmm...